


Freaky February

by Biweatherman



Category: Freaky Friday, Groundhog Day - Minchin/Rubin
Genre: AU, Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 02:09:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11704620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biweatherman/pseuds/Biweatherman
Summary: Phil/Rita body swap AU





	Freaky February

Phil woke up confused as to where he was until remembering they were still in the godforsaken town of Punxsutawney. But something still seemed off, this wasn’t the room from the bed and breakfast. Phil cautiously walked into the bathroom splashing water on to his face hoping that’d wake him up and give him some answers. However upon looking in the mirror he was met with another shock, the face staring back at him was not his own but instead the one belonging to that associate producer, Rita. Phil blinked but the face in the mirror remained the same and he knew he had to find Rita and he rushed out onto the street, immediately regretting his decision and running back inside when he realised he was still in pyjamas. He tossed on the coat he found in the room, not wanting to waste time getting properly dressed before rushing outside again and dashing to Gobblers Knob were he found an equally confused him, or at least someone wearing his face.  
“What in fuck is happening” Phil screamed at…himself.

“I don’t know. I woke up like this”

“Um guys are you okay? Because if you are the roads are clear” Larry piped up and Phil decided that any of this weirdness could be sorted out back in Pittsburgh.

They had both been silent for five minutes in the back of the van before Rita spoke. “So you really have no idea how this happened or hell to stop it?”

“I told you I just woke up like this. I know no more than you do”

“Well until we know more let’s set some ground rules. No sex, no getting drunk no drugs no cigarettes"

“You just ruled out a lot of my recreational activities”

“Too bad. You need to look after my body” At that sentence Larry who had mostly been stubbornly looking straight ahead at the road looked back at them incredibly confused and slightly scared before returning to the road knowing that this wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d overheard from one of Phils conversations. 

“I still think it’s unfair. Can I at least get drunk, don’t tell me you’ve never gotten drunk so it’s not doing anything that you wouldn’t do”

“No” 

Rita changed her mind about this particular ground rule later when Phil dragged her to multiple doctors then dragged her to a bar stating that it didn’t matter if they got drunk together, Then it would be like they were harming their own body was Phils justification. Rita still didn’t really agree but it had been a long, confusing day and a drink was welcome especially as she realised that as a guy she could enjoy time at a bar without every other guy hitting on her and generally being a pest.

They had been at the bar for an hour and Rita was having a blast, not only was she enjoying peace and quite but also she was watching Phil, the known dude bro of channel five being hit on, and while she didn’t wish that experience on anyone it was fun to watch. After a while though she started to feel pity for Phil who was out of his depth in terms of dealing with assholes and something about him still looking like her added to the empathy factor greatly. Rita downed her drink before doing something she’d always wanted to do even if she’d never admit it. She strode towards the man currently hitting on Phil, short but of a heavy build and definitely stronger than Phil but hey what was life without risk and pulled him away from Phil before launching a punch squarely at his jaw. Everyone in the bar moved into action except Phil who just stared at her in shock before allowing instinct to take control and joining in the fray. Still they were badly outnumbered and five minutes later were running away, phil tending to a bleeding nose and Rita holding a hand in front of an eye she was should would go black. 

“I have never done that before” 

“That’s an ordinary Friday evening for me” 

“It’s Thursday” 

“Well, I pity the makeup artist who has to cover your black eye before you go on TV” 

“No. No I am not going on live tv. Never.” Rita protested, going pale. 

“You didn’t realise that until this is fixed, and considering the help of those doctors it’s unlikely to happen soon, you’d have to do my job. It’s not hard, some people like my mother would even say its so easy it’s not a real job. They’ll give you notes on the predictions and some sample statements. Just put on the voice and red them out and make sure you point at the right places. That’s the hard part”

“Sorry. The voice?”

“You must have noticed every weatherman or newsreader has the same type of voice. Just mimic it. You’ll be fine, most of it is confidence and I saw that at the bar”

“The bar was different no one knew who I was and no one will remember me. This is in national tv”

“People still won’t know who you are, they’ll think you’re me. Hide behind that if you have to. Anyway I’m going home, see you at work.”

“Aren’t your worried about being me”

“You’re not even a real producer I’ll be fine”. 

Phil was not fine, it had been a week at work and he was exhausted, having been ordered to rune all over the station and given barely a break. In addition he’d been staying up later, going out instead of staying in alone. The fact he wasn’t himself did help him break down some walls and actually be himself in a weird. The fact his reputation wasn’t on the line also meant he felt freer to be himself. Also there definitely less of a pressure to not have feelings then there had been before.

He was on a well needed lunch break and texting a guy who lived a cross the hall whose number he’d always wanted and was thinking about how great this was when Rita walked up to him 

“This is terrible. We have to find a way to swap back”

“What’s wrong with this” 

“It’s fine for now but we have to live or lives instead of hiding behind each others. My mom has her birthday in a week should I send you instead of me and allow you to live out my life” 

“So what do you plan to do; have you suddenly found the answer to fix this?” 

“I think we should go back to Punx, that’s were it happened and in freaky Friday they go back to the source” 

“Freaky Friday? Our life isn’t a comedy movie and anyway that doesn’t work in that movie. They have to discover a deep truth about themselves. So shoot, what have you learned cause the only things I’ve learnt is that I’m terrible at doing makeup and dresses are fun to wear. But please what cosmic truth did you learn"

“I’ve learnt something I think few people know, Phil Connors isn’t just a jerk, Phil Connors, the famous Phil Connors is scared. Scared someone will see him for the loser he is. No one has asked why I’ve been acting differently no one has had a normal friendly conversation with me for a week. You have no one, either because they don’t want you or you push them away and I think it’s both they didn’t want you and now you’re scared of everyone. That’s what I learned.” 

“Well thanks for that Rita. You know what I learned, I might be holding myself back but you hold yourself to ridiculous standards. Even when you’re me you have to be the best, I’ve never seen a more prepared broadcast than the past week so I bet you were practising the night before your first one. And while aspiring to be better is not bad i’m pretty sure you hold others to those expectations because almost all the time someone tries so hard to be perfect its because they think that there are perfect people in the world. There aren’t, humans are messy, we make mistakes and we hate and we cry and that happens it’s normal. So I will let people in if you let people be people"

“Deal” 

“Good" They shook hands and then both felt silly when nothing happened and Phil shrugged and went back to eating food hoping Rita would leave him alone and that she would forget this conversation ever happened 

“I do expect to see you being nice Phil. And I know you’re scared people will reject you but I’ve been more polite than you have and suprise suprise I haven’t been shunned, actually people respond to kindness with kindness. Just try being nice” 

“I will if you go away” 

“That’s kinda the opposite its of letting people in. I think I’ll have lunch with you, get you in he right mindset. Lets start easy. Why did you want to be a weatherman?’ 

Phil quite enjoyed the conversation, it was slow at first but on the few occasions he did talk for just an it too long or got excited Rita didn’t make fun of him or seem disinterested, just nodded him on or asked a question about something he’d said. By the end phil was still questioning whether this was a good idea but decided it was a start and continued the day in a better mood and started with some smaller things, a compliment here a favour there nothing too large but people noticed and every smile or thank you egged him on. Sure he was unlikely to ever truly let go but for now he was doing okay and it helped that people expected this from Rita so weren’t taken aback by his actions. 

That evening Phil went to bed, determined to spend tomorrow acting more like Rita, and allowing more people to get close to him. Or at least allowing Rita to know him, everyone else might take some time. The next morning he woke up and was greeted with a shock as he stared in the bathroom mirror, it was his face. Phil Connors not Ritas face, but his. A few seconds after this realisation his phone rang and he answered it to Rita, shouting excitedly down the phone. 

“We’re back, it worked. I’m me once more.”

“It sure did work, seemed like your plan was good. Hey, I’ll see you at work and try to live up to the previous weeks broadcasts. Also I have a bunch of your dressess here so when do you want to pick them up. You… if you want you could come round tonight for Pizza before picking them up.” Phil said, running a hand though his short hair. 

“That sounds great Phil, I’ll see you at work”  
Phil practically bounced into work, full of new energy and every smile that greeted him after he said something nice just fuelled him on to realise that maybe, just maybe he’d misjudged people and that there was some worth in being nice.


End file.
